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Real-time absolute distance measurement by comb-based generation of multiple wavelengths

Published Online:December 21, 2012pp 432-440https://doi.org/10.1504/IJNM.2012.051107

Abstract

We present a novel scheme of exploiting the frequency comb of a femtosecond laser as the wavelength ruler for real-time measurement of absolute distances. Four different wavelengths are simultaneously generated in parallel to perform absolute distance measurements by means of multi-wavelength interferometry at an update rate of 100 Hz. When compared to commercial laser interferometers, the proposed scheme shows a discrepancy of 32 nm on average in measuring a ~2.3 m distance, proving to be a competitive tool for industrial applications.

Keywords

absolute distance, optical frequency generation, frequency comb, femtosecond laser, multi-wavelength interferometer, optical standards

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